Minecraft — Pocket Edition is a Universal App! Play on any iPhone and iPad. It’s constantly evolving thanks to our free updates.

Minecraft is about placing blocks to build things and going on adventures!...

Who doesn’t like Minecraft? No, seriously, tell us; we’ll fight them. We’ll also have a choice word or two for whoever decided to put Minecraft – Pocket Edition up for sale in its current state.

In case it’s your first day on the Internet in like a year, there’s an indie sandbox game called Minecraft that has pretty much set the world on fire. Even though it’s just getting its official release today, it’s already sold more than four million copies. Four million. Yeah. So the company behind Minecraft, Mojang, isn’t one you need to feel charitable towards when you see the $6.99 price tag on their iOS app, especially when it’s so underwhelming.

It’s the end of the world as we know it.

Even though there’s a paid version of Minecraft on PCs, there’s also a free version known as Minecraft Classic. It’s available to play in your browser on the official Minecraft website. Much like this mobile game, there are no resources to gather, items to craft, or enemies to protect yourself from. The world also is also finite in both the Classic and mobile versions, unlike the (nearly) limitless main game. Our problem is that Minecraft for iOS is less appealing than the version Mojang gives away for free.

Now, Minecraft has an aesthetic that some people might call ugly, but most of us find it charming and maybe even beautiful. The vast, procedurally-generated expanses you encounter combined with the vibrant color palette make for the kind of singular experience that Minecraft has been celebrated for.

Minecraft – Pocket Edition, on the other hand, is like an ugly, cloudy day in the Minecraft multiverse. The draw distance is very short, and there’s a thick, grey fog obscuring the boundaries of what is being rendered. There’s no skybox, and hitting the edge of the world (which doesn’t take long) feels jarring.

It’s like a glitch version of the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

It’s not all bad, though. The game controls really well, better than we would have expected. You’ll automatically jump up onto surfaces one block higher than where you started, and you can create and destroy things with just one finger. Popping blocks into the world by tapping on the screen is satisfying in a very visceral way, and we’re impressed that Mojang was able to come up with such an elegant control scheme for a game that started as a first-person mouse-and-keyboard game. You can control your avatar in either first- or third-person view, as well.

If the price was lower, it’d be easier not to be offended by Minecraft – Pocket Edition’s shortcomings. This release costs about one-quarter of the desktop game’s full price, but it doesn’t feel like it’s close to a quarter of the amount of fun. If this is what Minecraft needs to be to run on a phone, maybe it should just stay off of our pocket-sized devices. It’s possible that Mojang put this out before they should have as a reaction to Junk Jack, but–even though Minecraft is the sandbox mining game and it feels wrong to say this–you’d probably be better off getting a copycat for a dollar.

Fans of the highly adults-only comedy show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia might be surprised to hear who’s been announced to direct the upcoming Minecraft movie. It’s Rob McElhenney, known better by fans of the show as Mac. From Touch Arcade:

He has plenty of production and writing experience from the long-running FX comedy, of course, but he has yet to direct a movie for himself. He’s working on a movie called Figment for Legendary Pictures, but it’s possible that’s on hiatus, or this takes precendence, or he’s working on this next. Regardless, this seems promising since It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is such a good show.

The plan had been for Mojang to release a beta for a new version of Minecraft: Pocket Edition on July 29. Unfortunately, sometimes plans change. From Touch Arcade:

In case you don’t remember, the upcoming update is supposed to coincide with the release of Windows 10 and Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta and will add a billion new features. According to Tommasso, while they could start the beta on the 29th, that would mean no Enchanting, Music, or Controller support, which would be a disappointment to many. The new goal is August, hopefully.

The British Geological Survey is re-creating parts of rural Britain in Minecraft in order to get kids engaged with geography and topography. But is Steve a British citizen? The collection is only available via PC for now, but maybe an update will come to Pocket Edition in the future.

The result is a collection of attractive rural landscapes, areas of natural beauty your child can now walk around from the comfort of his favourite screen in his own lounge or bedroom. The Minecraft maps are supplied in two formats, one showing just the geology of the areas and another with the topography layered on top.

Another big update for Minecraft: Pocket Edition is on the horizon. Version 0.12 might drop sometime this summer, and when it does, it’ll bring a whole host of upgrades and changes. Pocket Gamer has a very comprehensive list.

The upcoming 0.12 will introduce more new stuff than perhaps any update we’ve ever seen, including controller support, music, weather, the Nether, and huge changes to the inventory.

Microsoft believes there are lots of benefits to putting Minecraft in classrooms. No doubt schoolkids agree.

“Many of the most fun parts of Minecraft, including the collaborative nature of play, the need to experiment, the open world, the earning of achievements, and the growth of players’ in-game characters as well as their personal skill sets, are also key to excellent learning environments.”

A “seed world” in Minecraft is a great way to start a game with a boost if you don’t feel like eking out a living from the bare basics. Touch Arcade has a list of the best seed worlds for Minecraft Pocket Edition, and instructions on how to access them.

The original Mos Speedrun was one of those nearly perfect games that absolutely nailed exactly what it was going for: creating a super tight platformer that was designed for speedruns. The sequel is coming soon, and this new trailer shows what to expect.